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Brian Cox and Nicole Ansari Examine a First Folio
Clip: Season 51 Episode 7 | 1m 18sVideo has Closed Captions
Brian Cox and Nicole Ansari examine one of Shakespeare's First Folios.
Actors Brian Cox and Nicole Ansari examine one of Folger Shakespeare Library's First Folios and discuss the story behind its creation.
Major series funding for GREAT PERFORMANCES is provided by The Joseph & Robert Cornell Memorial Foundation, the Anna-Maria and Stephen Kellen Arts Fund, the LuEsther T. Mertz Charitable Trust, Sue...
![Great Performances](https://image.pbs.org/contentchannels/7Is8B0v-white-logo-41-BRKTDby.png?format=webp&resize=200x)
Brian Cox and Nicole Ansari Examine a First Folio
Clip: Season 51 Episode 7 | 1m 18sVideo has Closed Captions
Actors Brian Cox and Nicole Ansari examine one of Folger Shakespeare Library's First Folios and discuss the story behind its creation.
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Learn Moreabout PBS online sponsorshipThis is the title page that includes the wonderful portrait of Shakespeare.
And this is the inscription that says: This is a gift from Jaggard, 1623.
So there's, there's the handshake with the original printer right there.
That's Jaggard the printer.
Correct.
Folger is excited about it because he can trace back every step, if he owns it, from himself right to the printer.
For Brian and Nicole, seeing the Folio takes them back to the moment it was conceived.
Heminges and Condell we've got to be very grateful for.
Absolutely.
The actors did the work.
They actually said Somebody has got to do something in this man's name.
These, this stuff is going to be lost forever if we don't do it.
And they were hoping probably, as usually actors always are, hoping that somebody else will do it.
And then nobody was going to do it.
So they thought Well bugger.
We'll do it.
Ill do it.
Yeah.
This was a masterstroke on their part to do this.
And it also makes one very proud that it was the actors who did it and that they actually did it.
They actually took the care, and gave it the care and attention that he, his life deserved.
Yes.
King Charles III Examines the First Folio of King Charles I
Video has Closed Captions
King Charles III examines the First Folio of King Charles I. (1m 54s)
Making Shakespeare: The First Folio Preview
Video has Closed Captions
Celebrate the 400th anniversary of Shakespeare’s First Folio. (30s)
Video has Closed Captions
In 1998 in Durham, England, a First Folio vanishes without a trace. (4m 21s)
Providing Support for PBS.org
Learn Moreabout PBS online sponsorshipMajor series funding for GREAT PERFORMANCES is provided by The Joseph & Robert Cornell Memorial Foundation, the Anna-Maria and Stephen Kellen Arts Fund, the LuEsther T. Mertz Charitable Trust, Sue...